As the overture plays (this prelude to lifelong love)
by SapphireOcean
Summary: Sometimes dreams grant the courage to speak once you're awake. [Complete]


I was feeling down so I thought fluff-as-therapy might help, and it's about damn time I wrote something for this fandom that I love dearly! Obviously, too, time to write for my biggest GL OTP on the planet. Set post-A's. Been a while since I've watched it so have some vague "dorm room living while training in the TSAB" stuff.

Title taken from Imogen Heap's Entanglement. I plan to make a title out of every lyric in that song; that's how much I love it.

* * *

They stand at the edge of the cliff, looking down into the roiling sea. Lit by the setting sun, the water looks like lava.

"It's here, you know," Fate says, holding Nanoha's hand lightly as a feather. "That it will happen."

"What will happen, Fate-chan?"

Something is different. Nanoha can feel it, a chill in her veins. Something's wrong.

The sun sets like someone flipped a switch. A wind rises, carrying the scent of sea salt.

Fate won't meet her eyes.

A thunderclap shakes them both, and they look at the charcoal sky just as a vortex opens high in the air. Swirling black nothingness, spreading across the sky.

Fate releases Nanoha's hand. "I have to go. I have to stop it."

Nanoha is staring into the vortex, terror lancing through her. But she looks at Fate when she hears her voice above the vortex's roar. "Stop... How? How can you...?"

"It wants me. I'm the only one who can." Fate finally looks at her, and Nanoha sees her ruby-red eyes are as dull as her voice.

"You can't!" Nanoha grabs Fate's arm. "You– You d-don't have Bardiche."

Fate shakes her off. "I don't need it."

"Wai–"

And she steps off the cliff. Nanoha rushes forward–

–and falls back onto the ground as Fate flies up from the cliff face and toward the vortex.

"No!" Nanoha scrambles up and leaps from the cliff, willing herself to fly with all her strength. The wind catches and lifts her, bringing her closer to Fate and the vortex. "Fate-chan, please!"

She's close enough to grab Fate's foot when there's a roar and a crack like the world is breaking. Fate turns to face her, utterly still, untouched by the howling wind.

"Goodbye, Nanoha."

The vortex begins to swallow her, turning red and gold.

**_"FATE!"_**

And Nanoha begins to fall.

_"No!"_

Nanoha jolted awake with tears streaming down her cheeks, tangled in her bedsheets. Gasping for air, she sat up, tearing the sheets away from her and stumbling out of bed.

"Fate... Fate-chan...!"

She stood leaning against the wall until her lungs cooperated, until her pulse slowed down. She knew now that she was in her own room, that she'd been dreaming, that Fate was safe. But she had to see Fate with her own eyes. She needed certainty. Wiping at her damp cheeks, she left her room and headed two doors down, across the hall.

"N-Nanoha?" At the soft light spilling into her room, Fate sat up and squinted at the doorway.

"I'm sorry," Nanoha whispered. "Did I wake you?"

"No." She hadn't fallen asleep yet. "Are you all right?" she asked as she turned on the bedside lamp.

Nanoha stepped further into Fate's room, shutting the door behind her. "I had a nightmare." She looked down, shuffling her feet. "Fate-chan, can I stay with you tonight?" she said to the floor.

"Of course."

Nanoha looked up, a bashful smile on her face. "Thank you." A series of shy steps brought her to the bedside, where she stood staring at the pink coverlet. She had shared a bed with Fate many times before, when one or the other of them couldn't sleep or when they simply wanted to talk for hours. Though it happened occasionally as they grew, it had been more frequent when they were younger. Nanoha was sixteen, like Fate; she was no longer a child. And now staying with Fate because of a nightmare, no matter how real or frightening the nightmare seemed, struck Nanoha as the epitome of childishness.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

Fate shook her head. "You'll get cold." She slid over to make room. Nanoha climbed in, and when she lay unmoving, staring at the ceiling, Fate pulled the covers over her.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" She spoke gently, when the silence had lingered for a couple of minutes.

"Could you turn the light off...?"

Fate reached over, shut off the lamp, then settled back into bed on her side, facing Nanoha. And she listened as Nanoha recounted her nightmare: the ocean, the cliff, that black hole.

"I couldn't get back to sleep without checking on you," Nanoha said, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I'm so silly..."

"No, you're not." Fate took Nanoha's hands in her own, clasping them gently. "I would do the same thing."

Tears began forming in Nanoha's eyes, from Fate's words as well as her touch. She'd held Nanoha's hand in the dream just as softly, but it had felt horribly tenuous, soulless, a connection about to break. Now, here, Fate's hands were warm, full of quiet strength and comfort.

"When I woke up, I really thought you were gone forever." She forced out the words as the tears spilled over. "Fate-chan, I thought I'd never see you again. I felt so alone...!"

"Nanoha..." Fate let Nanoha's hands go and pulled her into a tight hug, tears filling her own eyes as Nanoha cried into her chest. "I'm here," she whispered. "I won't ever leave you."

Eventually Nanoha's sobs ceased. The first thing she did was reluctantly extricate herself from Fate to fetch tissues, and Fate started laughing when Nanoha blew her nose. "It's not funny," she said, giggling.

Once she had cleaned up, she climbed back into bed and snuggled into Fate's arms again, putting her arms around Fate too. "I'm sorry I made your nightgown wet," she said.

"Only a little. It'll dry."

They laid in wakeful silence for a while. Nanoha appeared to be getting drowsy, which made Fate start to nod off, but then Nanoha spoke.

"Fate-chan, are you awake?"

"Mm."

"That nightmare scared me so much, but it told me something." She paused, searching Fate's face in the dark. "It made me realize..." Tears shone in her eyes again, but this time she was smiling. " It made me realize that I had to tell you before it was too late." She placed a hand on Fate's cheek, fingers curving lightly. "Fate-chan, I love you. I want to be at your side forever."

Fate immediately placed her hand over Nanoha's, even as she struggled to be sure of what she'd heard. "You... You what?"

"I love you. With all my heart."

"Oh, Nanoha." All of a sudden, Fate couldn't stop smiling. "I love you, too. And I wanted to tell you for... a long time." She squeezed Nanoha's hand against her cheek.

"Fate-chan!" Now Nanoha hugged Fate, happy tears sprinkling her cheeks.

"I was afraid," Fate said, "if you didn't feel the same, how it would affect–"

"Our friendship." Nanoha nodded fiercely. "I was afraid of that, too. So..." She smiled, leaning to press her forehead against Fate's. "I'm grateful for that nightmare. Because it gave my heart strength so I could tell you."

"I think I knew years ago," Fate whispered. "On that day when we exchanged ribbons. My heart just didn't understand yet."

"Yes! It was the same for me. And you finally called me by my name..." Nanoha giggled, and tucked her head under Fate's chin, blinking drowsily. "That was the happiest I'd ever felt."

"When I saw you again after so many months, I felt I'd come home. I should have told you then," Fate said into her hair.

"It's okay, Fate-chan. I don't think I would've known what to do! The important thing is, I know you do now..." Her hand left Fate's cheek to cover her own mouth as she yawned. "And I'll be happy always."

"So will I, Nanoha. So will I."

"Sleep well, Fa..."

Nanoha's breathing deepened mid-sentence and like magic, Fate felt her eyelids growing heavy. She slid further under the covers, slipped a hand into Nanoha's hair, and closed her eyes.

She dreamed of flying with Nanoha through a starry sky, their hands connected by black and white ribbons.


End file.
